Quick-release parachute harness



NOV. 25, 1947. H, WILSON 2,431,358

QUI (PK-RELEASE PARAGHUTE HARNESS Filed Feb. 6, 1943 WRE'V 144480 Patented Nov. 25, 1947 UNITED PATENT OFFICE H 2,431,358 'QUICK-RELEASE:PARACHUTE HARNESS Harry Wilson; Unitedstates Army Application February v6, 1943, Serial'No::475,047

5 Claims.

(Gra'nted under the act of JMar eh 3, 1883, as "amended April :30, 1928; 37 -O. G. 757) The inventi-on described-"lierein may be-ma nufacture'dand used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me or any royalty thereon.

--justing to accommodateitself to I the wearer and *which' involves the use ofa mini-mum amount of hardware andadjustable connect-ions.

Other objects of the invention-will become apparent 'by referenceto the'detailed description herein-after given and to the appended drawings inwh-ich:

Fig. -l isa diagrammaticwie'w of the-harness 'in-itsassembled-form;

"Fig. 2 is -a 'viewsimilar to Fig. 1, showingthe'ha-rness in position on the body of the wearer;

' Fig. '3 illustrates the details ofa'novel quickrelease mechanism-employed in the harness'of Figsil and-2;

Referringnow to Figs. 1 and 2, the novel parachute'harness is seentocomprisea pair of generally parallel lift webs I and'Z', having a portion thereof looped through conventional adjustable adapters-3 and 4, respectively, from whence the to form back strap portions Ia and 2a respectively, which terminate in leg strap portions Ib and 2b respectively, which pass through the legs of the wearer and terminate in enlarged loop portions and 6 disposed at the front of the wearer at about waist level. A back strap 1, which extends across the back of the wearer, has its terminal portions respectively threaded through loops 5 and 6 of the leg straps and the terminal ends of the transverse or belt strap I are formed as enlarged loops 8 and 9 respectively. A pair of shoulder straps I 0 and I I are connected at their upper ends to the adapters 3 and 4 respectively and are threaded through the respective loops 8 and 9 and secured at their inner ends at I2 and I3 respectively to a novel quickrelease device generally indicated by the reference numeral I5.

As seen in Fig. 2, the loops 5 and 6 of the leg straps are slidable along the back strap I, and the terminal ends 8 and 9 of the back strap are respectively slidable on the shoulder straps ID and II, so that once the adapters 3 and 4 are properly adjusted, the leg straps, shoulder straps, and back strap automatically adjust themselves 2 into acomfortableposition on the'wearer, due totheprovision of'the guiding loops and thus eliminate the use 'of hardware in'maklng adjustments to fit individual wearers. As further seen in Fig. 2, the lifting stresses from the parachute (not shown) are transmitted from the wearers shoulders" downward 'oneach side to be finally equilibrated through the connections provided by means of theba'ek strap "Land upon landing 1 0 it is only necessary to release the terminalends IZ'and I3 of theshoulder straps I0 and lIby means of the'releasable connect-ionI5 and the "entire-harness"will slide-oif of the wearer, loops 8*and 9 sliding over the terminal'ends I2 and 1 5 I S-bf the'shoulder straps and the leg strap loops 5 and iisliding off the-endsof the back-strap.

The'novel release mechanism "i=5 illustrated in Fig. 3 comprises a metal transverse arm I6,

which is provided with'a pair of downwardly extending parallel pins- I 'I and' I8 which-are adapted to be slipped through the looped portions of the terminal ends "[2 and I3 of the shoulder straps --I Ilfand I I and' the arm f6 being further provided w'ithf-afpair of short "projecting pins ISan'd' ZO'Which extend downward on the outer "side of 1 the 'shouIderstrap terminal ends I2 and I3. Ayoke member 22 isprovided with'space d apertures 23*an'clti t adapted-to receive the lower ends'of'the'pins 'I'I*and-I{8 and the legs 25 and websextend downward in parallel arrangement 66f the yokemernber a ehbl owa' pt to be forced on to the projecting pin portions I9 and 20 of the upper release member [6. The legs 25 and 26 rest in frictional engagement with the shoulder strap terminal portions I2 and I3. The leg portions 25 and 26 may be arranged slightly out of parallel so as to give sufiicient frictional engagement with the pins I9 and 20 to prevent inadvertent separation of the release mechanism prior to landing with the parachute 40 harness. A strap 21 is secured to the upper release member I6 by means of rivets or the like and provided at its upper end with a grip ring 28 which is grasped by the wearer of the harness and pulled upward when it is desired to release the harness. Upon release, the upper member I6 moves with the release ring 28' and connecting strap 21, pulling the pins I1 and I8 from the apertures 23 and 24 of the lower member 22, and finally releasing the pins I9 and 2|] from the tubular legs of the lower member 22, and finally the pins I! and I8 are pulled from the looped ends of the terminal portions I2 and I3 of the shoulder straps, thus releasing the entire harness. The pins I1 and I8 are made of sufiicient diameter to withstand all of the tensile stresses exerted mechanism, since any quick-acting release foruncoupling the terminal ends 12 and I3 of the shoulder straps l and H may be employed.

It is further obvious that in the harness as above described, guiding loops might be provided on the terminal ends of the shoulder straps l0- and H in place of the loops 5 and 6 on belt "I and terminal ends of the belt 1 interconnected by means of the quick-release mechanism. And it is further obvious that the belt member may be made of such a width and so arranged that it may constitute a seat for supporting the wearer.

While a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that other variations and modifications may be made therein so within the scope of the invention as defined within the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A parachute harness comprising a pair of spaced lift webs adapted to extend downward in parallel relation over the wearers shoulders and back and thence extending through the wearer's legs and each terminating in a loop portion at the front of the wearer, a strap adapted to extend transversely across the wearers back and having its ends threaded through said loops, the ends of said back strap terminating in loops positioned at the front of the wearer, a pair of straps extending down the front of the wearer and each passing through a respective loop of said back strap and then extending laterally across the 'frontof the wearer for attachment to a quickrelease coupling membe'neach of said pair of straps being secured at its upper end to one of said lift Webs adjacent the shoulder of the wearer.

2. In a parachute harness, a pair, of parallel loops disposed in front of the wearer, a quickrelease coupling member positioned at the front of the wearer, a pair of straps secured at one end thereof to said coupling member and each respectively threaded through one of the loops on the back strap and a connection between each of the other ends of said pair of straps and a respective one of said lift webs at points adjacent the wearers shoulder.

3. In a parachute harness a pair of lift webs having shoulder portions, back portions, and terminating in leg strap portions disposed at the front of the wearer, an enlarged loop on the end of each leg strap portion, a pair of shoulder straps disposed down the front of the wearer and adjustably connected at one end to the shoulder portions of said lift webs, the remaining ends of 7 said shoulder straps being free and disposed at the front of the wearer, a belt strap adapted to extend transversely across the back of the wearer and having free ends disposed in front of the wearer, each of one of said pairs of free'ends being formed with enlarged loops and each of the remaining free ends being threaded through a pair of said loops and a quick-release connection a between said remaining free ends.

4. A parachute harness comprising a pair of lift webs having back and leg portions and the terminal ends of said leg portions being formed as enlarged guiding loops disposed at the front of the wearer, shoulder straps, adjustably secured to said lift Webs and having free ends disposed in front of the wearer, a transverse strap having its free ends disposed in front of the wearer, guide loops formed on the ends of'one of said pairs of free ends and the other of said pairs of free ends being threaded through said guide loops and re leasably connected; at the front of the wearer.

5. A parachute harness construction comprising a pair of straps extending down the back of the wearer, and terminating in leg straps having looped ends disposed at the front of the wearer, a

pair of shoulder straps having the terminal'ends thereof releasably connectedat the'front of the wearer, a belt web having looped terminal ends a threaded through said leg strap loops and said looped terminal ends encircling respective ones of said shoulder straps, andsuspension 'webs formed integral with one of said pairs of straps.

' HARRY WILSON.- 

